Inspiration + an idea + cranberries and blueberries + dye pot + hot plate + cotton + organza + linen + time = cranberry hued laundry
I awoke way too early yesterday...like 4:15 am too early...stumbled downstairs and unwrapped the cranberry bundles before my first cup of coffee. Maybe my curiosity over the transpirings in the dye pot were what had me up before the crack of dawn...
The dye pot, hot plate and I are no strangers. We spent many an hour mixing up various Jacquard dyes to color the reeds and sisals used in weaving my baskets in the beginning and my vibrant, abstract studies in color at the end (of my basketry career, that is). Yet this brewing and bubbling of cranberries and blueberries was an entirely new experience for us. It's a delicate dance that we need to learn because now we're hooked.
The bundle was wrapped with the linen in the middle covered by organza which was covered by cotton. As light as the cotton appeared, I assumed that the linen was going to be unchanged. Boy! Was I wrong. It took the cranberry coloring the best of the three. These pictures were taken while the fabric was still wet.
The lovely red dried to a pale mauvey-brown-grey...still with bits of cranberries attached. The girls and I were out all day yesterday and didn't arrive home until the sun was setting so a photo will be taken today. And I'm going to wait until I return from a jaunt to Pam's before washing the pieces. Let the color settle in a bit, you know.
Stay tuned for part 3.
I guess someone has to say it - they look good enough to eat! What a fun discovery and I wonder what they look like once rinsed...post 3 shall tell no doubt. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteFiona - Wet they look good enough to eat...the linen piece, that is. Dry...not so much. This whole experiment has me looking at my produce more closely, pondering keeping a dye pot handy for the bits that would normally be pitched. As if I'm not divided enough between rusting, discharging and printing on fabric. Oy!
ReplyDeletemust get out the linen now
ReplyDeleteand get more cranberries
yes that pink is yummy...
surely you have tried onion skins?
I have now committed an old picnic table to the rusties, lake house now holding down the beeswax, euc silk, wool and years of collected tidbits and more...
dancing the Oy dance with you,
xox - eb.
eb - I'm sad to say that only recently have I tried dyeing with natural products...other than rust, that is. Will have to rectify that. And I'm glad to have company doing the Oy dance!
ReplyDelete